There is a material / coating that is commonly used in consumer electronics that eventually deteriorates into a sticky mess eventually making the products unusable and unsaleable.
Sadly, the current Elektron range uses it on the Trig buttons fortunately these could easily be replaced, but some products like Ableton Push are completely coated in the crap.
It’s hard to know if a product uses this coating especially when buying gear online so I figured it might be useful to list music gear that doesn’t use this rubberised coating so you can make an informed choice. Feel free to add to this list.
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Pulsar-23
Lyra-8
Dirtywave M8
OP-1 (though early OP-1s have yellowing buttons - doh!)
OP-1f
Pocket Operators (not the cases)
Hapax
Modular gear (knobs are replaceable)
Organelle
Elektron (pre-2015)
If this happens to your devices prematurely you can use alcohol or acetone to remove it very quickly and easily. But if they’re looked after in normal conditions they should last well for years to come - can’t say I’ve ever seen a used Elektron advertised with sticky hardware.
I think trying to maintain a list of all products not using organic compounds might be a bit of a tall order, but I salute your efforts.
Not aware of Korg using it, certainly not on MS20, Monotribe, SQ64, electribes, Arp2600, Volcas, Kaoss pads.
OP-Z
Roland Boutiques all models to date
MPC One
Deluge
Squarp Pyramid
Roland Aira minis all models to date
OTO BiM, BAM, BOUM
Cyclone Analogic TT-303, TT-606, TR-78
Roland MC101/707/TR6s/TR8s
Novation Circuit Tracks/Rhythm (confirmed by Calc only on knobs)
Good news with Elektron keycaps is that they don’t have any printing on them - I assume the black is a layer under the rubberised coating so if you really hate it then it could be removed in 5 minutes.
Yes i would be interested in less rubberized, more normal hardplastic knobs ( maybe also wth a bit of grip, but not sure about that) like roland tr8, erica, pulsar, basstation etc etc but obviously endless.
Mostly for digitone. to me a4 mk1 feels a bit less rubberized and sticky.
Also once when the a video ( at hör) with a metalized ot2 with metal knobs was shown here i searched a bit for those knobs but wasn‘t sure about size etc.
Tips or recommendations ( or if not recommended) would be nice
Thanks a lot!
Ot: strange and new to me what they write about shipping to non-eu switzerland. (That its less affected by the high shipping taxes, don‘t know)
Or i search similar here
When breaking up that sticky icky, make sure to wash your hands like a surgeon. Otherwise those rubber knobs will really get sticky, and you’ll probably have “Like A Surgeon” from Weird Al stuck in your head after reading this post. All kinds of oils from your skin perspiring to whatever you were eating will all work against this material alongside of humidity, which is the most overlooked contributor.
…if u really like a certain piece of gear, spent it some customized wooden or metal parts 'n knobs…
spent a little xtra later on, once aproved by ur very own workflow experience with it, just to make it truly special, unique and timeless/priceless…
since most plastic variants deteriate at some point and even those companies who develop and assemble in best customers intrest don’t really know what to expect on the long run these days, when planning in on using plastic parts while also have to calculate damned tough on final overall pricetags…and not every company can go full on luxury what costs the world like te…and even they started to aim at low price segment fast fashion products lately…it’s a rough time for any hw production in this inflationary fast and faster money rules all the world we’re livin’ in…
meanwhile, soma and dreadbox exist on another planet…but even moog has left the building…
Cool. Glad not to have that issue with it. The touch strip for the modulation is the one issue I gotta contend with. But that’s another topic altogether.
